B.C. project earns BrandSafway industry award
By Adam Freill
Construction InfrastructureSite C scaffolding innovation one of three BrandSafway projects recognized with SAIA awards for innovative access technologies.
(Photo courtesy of BrandSafway)
A one-of-a-kind hybrid access-scaffold solution for the Site C Clean Energy Project in British Columbia earned BrandSafway accolades at the Scaffold & Access Industry Association (SAIA) project awards, one of three wins for the company this year.
Groupe LAR, general contractor for the BC Hydro Site C Clean Energy Project on the Peace River in Fort St. John, B.C., retained BrandSafway to design and deliver a hybrid access/scaffold solution on six penstocks – 32-foot-diameter, 300-foot-long fabricated steel conduits that run from the reservoir above to a series of 183-megawatt hydro turbines below.
BrandSafway companies Aluma Systems, Hydro Mobile, Winsafe and Spider collaborated to engineer a first-of-its-kind, one-of-a-kind solution: an electrically operated carrier integrated with a self-levelling hydraulically controlled platform, which supported multiple levels of BrandSafway’s Systems Scaffold.
The self-levelling design enabled workers to safely and efficiently paint, weld, inspect, repair and sandblast the penstocks, which have a serpentine geometry and steep decline. In addition, the self-levelling mobile platform transported workers throughout all six months of the project without a safety incident and allowed the coating application to be completed in less time, and at a lower cost, than other options.
“These Project Awards affirm the excellence and innovation of our BrandSafway engineering, installation and project management teams,” said Karl Fessenden, BrandSafway president and CEO. “We have a tradition of designing access solutions for even the most challenging jobs, as well as developing new ideas that improve safety and efficiency for our customers.”
Other projects earning awards for the company were its Central Park Tower project in New York, in the Mast Driven Hoists and Platforms Project of the Year category, and the Barnes-Jewish Hospital project in St. Louis, Mo., in the Supported Scaffold Project of the Year competition.
